Nano-Cat
by DrytotheDen
Summary: Kirito, much to his confusion woke up with strange cat powers one day after what could only be called a traumatizing experience, slowly learning how to deal with the powers he decided to play hero once again, only this time it's actually in the real world ... slightly AUish, set about 1 or 2 years after the events of SAO and ALO, and disregarding the GGO and UWO arcs.
1. The Cat No One Else Sees

**A/N: So yeah I know this is a weird concept but I started it as a joke, then I edited it a lot and well now its just became an actual story so, I hope you like it! Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1: The Cat No One Else Sees

* * *

The night air brushed past the teen as he pulled his coat closer to his body and grumbled.

It was just his luck, he had drove out to meet Klein at some sketchy place all the way across town because of course Klein couldn't pick some place normal or at the very least nearby. The drive was long, and the quickest route was along a forest. Not to mention it was cold out.

And the road itself?

Well it was as of the current moment creepily deserted…

But no, that's not what irritated Kirito. What irritated him was that it was very late; his family was probably having a heart attack due to the fact that he wasn't home like he said he would be by eleven pm.

But the true cherry on top was the fact that he would be, if only his crappy motorcycle hadn't went and broke down not even half way there…or if his phone hadn't died before he left to start with.

Glancing at his watch, he groaned. It was three am.

He was so dead.

He continued to grumble to himself as he pushed his heavy bike, knowing he still wasn't even halfway there yet…such a long walk…he should have just left his bike behind. It deserved to be left behind.

Yet he kept pushing it forward, he really didn't have the money's worth to just leave it behind.

"Meow"

Kirito stopped and just stared at the black cat, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, a couple feet away. The cat did nothing but stare back and Kirito forced back the urge to shiver…something about this cat didn't feel quite right… it made him wonder if it was really a cat.

'That's stupid, pull yourself together Kazuto. It's obviously a cat...what else would it be?' Kirito thought as he shook his head, put the bike down on its stand, and approached the cat. Man, he must be tired to just approach a random cat but he could use a break and it made for better company than nothing at all.

He stopped about two feet away from it before crouching down and holding his hand out, if the cat wanted to let him pet it then it had to approach him…he wasn't about to scare or piss off the animal by just up and deciding to touch it himself.

The cat tilted its head and continued to stare at the boy in front of it before finally seemingly deciding he was worth it's time. Rubbing it's head against Kirito's hand it purred appreciatively as he proceeded to scratch it behind the ears.

"What are you doing all the way out here? There aren't any houses nearby…do you not have a home?" Kirito questioned not expecting an answer.

"You look familiar have I seen you before?" Kirito continued as he tried to recall where he'd seen a cat like it before. "Probably just my imagination…" But for some reason he really couldn't shake the feeling that he should know this cat…like he'd seen it many times before or something...

The cat meowed, pulling the teen out of his thoughts before moving closer to rub up against his legs. Then it froze, looked forward for a moment, and bolted like it saw or heard something that spooked it.

Kirito leapt to his feet alarmed at first but then relieved when he spotted a large truck pull to a stop a little ways down the road. He wouldn't have spotted it if not for the fact that its head lights were still on.

'Thank goodness…maybe I can get a ride.' Kirito thought as he left the bike to rush forward and see if they would give him one. He was tired of walking he'll come back for it later…maybe they can fit it in their truck.

Once he reached the truch he ran around to the back to find the people after noticing they weren't inside the vehicle.

He froze however, when he reached the back…

It was like someone had dumped ice water down his back and froze time, his blood running cold and his eyes widening from shock…

He couldn't believe what he was seeing:

Two men, One holding the feet and the other the arms of a dead older man as they carried him towards the trees…

"God damn, I know he was annoying Shiro but did you really have to kill him?" One of them complained.

"He was going to fire me…" The other whined.

Neither had noticed the boy staring in shock.

'Run' he screamed to himself internally as he went to back away silently, only to trip with a loud thump.

'Shit! Get up, get up! Run!'

Silence filled the area as the men turned and met Kirito's eyes, cursing they dropped the body.

"What the hell is a kid doing out here at this time of night?!" one of them questioned, looking pissed.

"Doesn't matter, just grab him!"

'RUN!'

Kirito scrambled to his feet to run but the air was knocked out of him not even minutes later as he was tackled back to the ground. He squirmed and kicked, yelling as he desperately tried to get away. He did not just survive a death game, go through hellish physical therapy, and risk his life again to save the girl he loved; all so he could go and get brutally murdered on some creepy street alone.

"Let me go!" Kirito yelled as he tried to drag himself out from under the heavy man who pinned him to the ground.

The click of a gun made him freeze.

Roughly Kirito was grabbed by the shoulders and pulled up by the person who tackled him, while his friend held a gun to his head.

"Don't move, boy." '_Or I'll kill you' _was the unsaid words hanging in the air.

Kirito put his hands up, eyes wide and shaking.

"Please don't shoot." He pleaded, internally cringing at how pathetic he sounded, as the one still holding his shoulders began to practically drag him forward.

"Shut up." They commanded

Kirito shut his mouth; desperately trying to figure a way out of this alive…He wasn't coming up with anything…

If the was SAO or even ALO he would have so many options right now but…in the real world Kirito was nothing more than your average student except maybe a little better with computers and video games. In the real world his life was a whole lot more fragile.

And right now that life was in the hands of two men who apparently killed someone just for planning on firing one of them from work.

Things weren't looking too bright.

They lead him deep into the trees, constantly commanding him to move faster and shoving him forward if he dared to slow down.

It was a weird sensation but it was almost like every sound was deafeningly loud and Kirito could just hear his heart pounding away with each step. He's going to die tonight isn't he?

'I'm sorry Asuna, I don't think I'll be able to take you on our date tomorrow' Kirito thought sadly as the man roughly pulled him to a halt amidst the trees.

"This should be far enough." The man said as the other man with the gun, clicked the safety off.

"I got to ask…what the hell you were doing out and about around here anyway?" the man with the gun said almost lazily as Kirito was whirled around and shoved to his knees on the ground. He didn't seem to really care for the answer though…

Not that it mattered, Kirito couldn't even bring himself to answer as the gun was raised anyway…in fact he couldn't make a sound at all.

"Meow"

Kirito slowly tilted his head a little off to the left behind the two men, spotting the black cat sitting there looking at him curiously…strange the other two men didn't seem to notice or hear him.

…  
_"Mommy, there's a cat staring at me over there!"  
"Honey, I don't see any cat."  
"But it's right there!"_

_"Dad, there's that cat again, you see it don't you?"_  
_"Kazuto, son there's no cat."_  
_"Yes there is! It's right there!"_

_"Hello I'm Abby, I'm going to be your therapist….do you know what a therapist is?"_  
_"Yes…"_  
_"Good, that's good. So your parents are very worried…they say you keep seeing a cat."_

_"Kirito-kun what are you staring at?"_  
_"That weird cat…it keeps staring at me…"_  
_"What cat?"_

…

'That's where…It's you!' Kirito thought as he stared at the cat shocked and a little annoyed...He had to go to therapy because of that stupid cat.

"Sorry kid but I don't want to go to prison."

The man's voice roughly jolted Kirito back to reality. Kirito turned his head only to find the gun aimed right at his forehead.

'Shit! What am doing thinking about some weird cat, when I have a gun to my head?!"

"Wait-!" he began desperately.

The man pulled the trigger. The sound it made was deafening as it bounced off the trees, but Kirito didn't hear it.

What he did hear was a cat screeching in alarm and maybe it was just his imagination but it also sounded pissed…

'I don't want to die!' he thought as he felt the life leave him and his body fall.

Strange…

Now Kirito couldn't seem to see or hear anything at all…

"Damn and you call me cold; you just shot a kid dead."

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**A/N: ok so I'm splitting the chapter in half, so have fun being confused**

**Yeah…so those who have been reading the story all this time: I got rid of the prologue, it just doesn't fit anywhere and my writing since I wrote that thing (not even fully serious might I add) has improved some. in other words I thought the chapter sucked.**

**It had no real relevance to the story that I cant easily put in later anyway.**

**those of you who just started reading: Don't worry about it :D I hope you liked this chapter and please leave a review!**


	2. Cat Nap

**A/N: IMPORTANT: I took the funny chapters and put them as a goofy spin off, there will still be humor here cuz I can't write without humor but this side of the story will have more seriousness than I had before. Like an actual story instead of confusingly bouncing around. It just bothered me how disorganized the story was, so chapters like the original chapter two and three will be in the spin off which I plan to add another chapter to soon. Sorry I'm so late, ENJOY!**

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Chapter 2: Cat Nap

The woods were silent, there were no birds singing, no bugs echoing their noise about the trees…nothing. Not even a breeze. It was almost as if time itself had just stopped for a moment.

Perhaps it was due to the death hanging in the air, but a forest full of living beings should long since be used to such a notion.

Maybe it was the unnaturalness of the boy lying in the leaves with a bullet through his head, death clouding over him but not hanging on him…

Or maybe it was the cat, one that didn't feel right to those who were even aware of its existence, a rare occurrence on its own. The very same cat that just sat next to the boy's head as if it was waiting for something to happen…

Hours ticked by in the silence, it almost seemed like it would drag on forever…

But then a pained groan sounded throughout the forest as finally, against all laws of nature, the boy moved.

"What-" Kirito began questioning as he slowly sat up, but abruptly cut himself off as he clutched his head, wincing in pain. Never in his entire life had he experienced such a horrible head ache. It was almost as if someone had went and-

Shot him in the head.

He gasped as his head whipped left then right taking in his current surroundings, yelping in panic when he found the dead older man's body lying right next to him.

How in the hell's name was he alive?!

To add to the panic he discovered that the majority of half his face was caked in his own blood, his hair clumped up with the red liquid, and on the ground where he had been lying was a drying puddle.

But absolutely no wound.

His forehead was free of holes, the only sign he had ever been shot at all was the dried blood and pounding head ache. That and he certainly remembered it, clear as day.

It didn't make sense.

None of it made sense.

His hand landed on something hard and cold as he shifted to his knees, peering down his breath caught in his throat as he picked up the bullet, cold, silver, and coated in dried blood. His fingers trembled as the realization dawned on him that this bullet should still be buried in his head.

Not that he was ungrateful, but he just didn't understand….how was he alive?

The cat watched the boy panic, watched him stumble about in confusion for a moment before making its presence known with a simple "Meow" and the response it received was immediate.

The boy jumped inhumanly high from being startled so, quickly whirling around to face the cat when his feet were once again on solid ground.

The two just stared at each other in silence, before once again Kirito was the one to brake it, "What the hell are you?!" he screamed as he glared at the cat. It was sincerely starting to freak him out.

But of course a cat cannot speak, and so the cat merely tilted its head as if it was slightly confused before trotting off in the direction of the road.

"What the- Hey wait!" Kirito called as he raced after the cat, though not without horrible stumbling and a few face plants here and there. He couldn't seem to walk right at all.

Silently he wondered how long he had laid there in the woods. He really hadn't a clue, but he figured it must have been long enough when the road appeared in sight.

It was late just as it was when he was shot-killed? That still confused him. Being late as it was he could very clearly see the flashing lights off the many police cars lining the road.

He was nearly scared to death by the mad barking of a big German Shepard, presumably a search dog, as it eyed the distraught boy almost madly. Stumbling backwards and landing on his butt Kirito stared in alarm till a shrill whistle caused the dog to go obediently silent.

"Hey it's the boy! We found the boy, he's alive!" A voice called, it was only till the man was in front of Kirito waving a flashlight in his eyes did he realize he was a police officer.

"Good, you don't seem to have a concussion…do you have any injuries? You're covered in blood." The man questioned as he helped Kirito up off the ground and kept a steady hold of his arm, for that Kirito was grateful…he could barely walk a straight line at the moment. His sight, smell, and hearing were all so off kilter it was throwing him off.

Kirito merely shook his head as an answer, "The blood isn't mine." He lied. The officer merely shot him a briefly alarmed glance as he continued to lead him through a mass chaotic mess of activity, police officers and search dogs almost seemed to be everywhere.

"I see… We've been searching for you for two days, your mother called when you didn't show up and we found your bike along this road." The man continued to explain, stopping at one of the police cars and opened the door to the passenger seat, allowing Kirito to sit and rest with his feet hanging out the door.

The officer leaned on the open door, "Can you tell us what happened?" He questioned after speaking on a walkie-talkie to alert all the other police of him being found, before Kirito even opened his mouth to reply another man had joined them.

"Kirigaya Kazuto?" the other man questioned, Kirito just nodded his head. "Thank god, your mother has been calling us non-stop. I swear she's driving the whole police force up the wall."

"Uh…" Kirito really didn't know what to say to that other than the fact that yeah…it sounded like something his aunt Midori would do.

"I'm Captain Eiji, this officer here who found you is Hiro."

"Nice to meet you, alive I might add." The man Hiro joked. Kirito didn't find it very funny.

"Hiro, could you go contact his family? Tell them we found their son. Also if you can find some water or something, I think the boy could use that, he probably hasn't had anything in the last two days he's been missing." The Captain started as Kirito frowned, why not just ask him? He'll never understand people, if it was him he would just ask, he was never one to beat around the bush…unless of course doing so might allow him to avoid Asuna's wrath.

The officer nodded his head before heading off to do what he's been told. The Captain turned to Kirito and smiled kindly before asking, "Do you know what happened to you?"

Kirito was silent for a moment as he mentally decided what was ok to tell and what he should lie about. "My bike broke down; I had been walking for hours…I saw a truck. I went to ask for a ride and found two men dragging a body. I tried to run but I must have been knocked out or something because I don't remember, I woke up next to the body in a random clearing…I think they thought I was dead."

Kirito knew the story was edgy but it was also mostly true, just with some parts of it missing. His biggest concern was all his blood, but he really didn't know how to explain that seeing as he had no injuries, and there was no way an injury that could cause that much blood loss could heal on its own in two days.

In fact with that kind of blood loss he was pretty sure he should be dead, but well that was one in many reasons on the growing list of 'should be dead' as far as he was concerned.

The man stared at him for long moment before speaking again, "If you could, do you think you could lead us back to the body?"

Kirito shook his head no, the only reason he found the road so easily was because the freaky cat…which now that he thought about it; where the heck did it go?

Eiji sighed, "Alright, well at least we know about it…I'll just have to tell the search team to keep at it." He continued.

"Captain, I contacted his family. However I couldn't find any water or food for the kid." Hiro called as he returned, standing next to the man with a phone in hand.

The Captain merely sighed, "Did you tell them to meet us at the hospital?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, let's get this kid checked out." Eiji finished with a nod in the direction of Kirito.

Kirito shook his head in annoyance, "I don't need to go to a hospital." He replied stubbornly, what if they find something unexplainable about him? Something weird? He did just get shot in the head two days ago and woke up with nothing but a massive head ache and disorientation.

Though now that he thought about it, he was also really hungry and somewhat thirsty…two whole days lying on the forest floor dead or at least very close to it, can really make a person hungry.

"Look kid, its better safe than sorry. Besides this is just procedure, your covered in blood, you look like you been through hell, and you don't even know what happened to you. You're going to the hospital."

Kirito groaned in annoyance as the man gestured for him to sit all the way in the car and shut the door behind him, he wasn't stupid. He was completely aware that no matter what he said he wasn't going to be able to avoid a trip to the hospital. At least they weren't making him ride in an ambulance, which would have been uncomfortable seeing as he's perfectly functional.

He just really hoped they didn't find anything disturbing.

* * *

The ride to the hospital had been by far the worst ride of his entire life.

Every noise seemed ten times louder, every smell thousands of times more pungent or noticeable, and his sight was at a level of unbearable awareness with everything seemingly brighter…but not in a good way, it was in a way that just hurt to look at anything.

All his senses were peaked to a point of unnatural, something that was making him incredibly uncomfortable.

At the speed they were going things should have been hard to focus on for more than a second if at all, however instead everything was in perfect clarity. It was like they were driving down the roads at the pace of a snail for all the detail he could discern.

Oh how his headache just grew and grew.

But then he got to the hospital, and he found he had never before wanted to be out of a building as much as he wanted out of that one. The air didn't just smell like a hospital anymore, to him it smelled like blood, and so many other disgusting smells he could describe…but really didn't want to.

He really really wanted out, but he was only ushered in further by all the alarmed nurses, he was after all still covered in blood.

The check up and tests all seemed to last for an eternity to the poor boy as he sat there trying to cut the world off, if only to spare his throbbing head.

Unfortunately that just made the doctors and nurses decide to take more tests just to make sure that his head was fine.

When the blood tests came through the doctors became confused but then declared that the machine was 'just getting old'.

When Kirito questioned them on the matter the answer he received made his heart drop to his stomach.

"Your blood almost looks like a cat's on the results." They joked, yet somehow Kirito had the feeling that the machine had nothing to do with those results.

After the many long hours past and they finally deemed him alright, he was led out to the waiting room. They claimed his family and friends were there causing up a racket because they had wanted to see him right away. He wasn't surprised by the matter one bit.

The minute he set foot into the room he was tackled, quickly he lost track of how many times he was hugged or by who the hugging came from. He was beyond exhausted from the whole affair.

Though he certainly became aware again when he found himself in Asuna's arms, it was like an instant reaction, everything about her seemed to wash away all his worries and stress. He felt so safe again.

Getting shot in the head seemed to damage his comfort and confidence more than his body. He was sure he was liable to be suffering trauma from the whole thing.

"Sorry, I missed our date." He mumbled in her neck, the place he had instantly buried his face once her arms had wrapped around him securely.

"That's what you're concerned about?!" She yelped suddenly, causing him to wince.

"You dummy! We thought you were dead!" she continued, pushing him out enough so she could look at his face.

Dead…he should be…he thinks he's supposed to be. He really couldn't make heads or tails of anything…

"Sorry." He whispered in response as she pulled him back in her arms again, he could practically feel his energy draining from his body.

He was so very tired.

"We were so worried!" he heard another voice call, he thought it was his aunt but at this point he didn't have the energy left to figure it out.

That's when his knees gave out.


	3. Confused Cat

Chapter 3: Confused Cat

The next time Kirito woke up it was in his own room with a wet cloth over his eyes, and he was scared out of his mind.

Why?

Because now his senses weren't just different, his entire body felt different. It was like every time he went to sleep a little more of his original self slipped away.

What he didn't realize was that he was completely right. He was slowly changing. Though it dawned on him that that might be the exact case when he climbed out of bed with an unnatural form of grace, it really hit him when he looked in the mirror.

He screamed, how could he not? His pupils were in slits like a freaking cat!

"Oh god, this cannot be happening." He mumbled to himself in panic as he leaned in closer to the mirror to confirm he was not seeing things.

He stumbled backwards in shock when his eyes truly remained cat-like, much to his alarm his feet didn't even make a single sound on the floor in his panic, that wasn't natural.

Nothing about this was natural.

He was shot.

He was killed.

He woke up two days later unharmed.

His senses were suddenly very weird.

Now his body was weird.

But his eyes…those couldn't be human.

What the hell was he?!

"Kazuto!" He heard his aunt call and the sound of feet stomping up the stairs. Oh that's right, he did scream...

Quickly Kirito leapt in his bed threw the covers back over his body and head and did what any smart teen would do in such a situation: He bought time by pretending to sleep.

The door to his room swung open and knocked against the wall loudly. Although to Kirito it sounded like a sonic boom.

He jumped, almost knocking off his covers in the process.

"Shit." He cursed under his breath, now there was no way he could pretend to be sleeping.

'Time to play the nightmare card' He thought to himself, with what he just went through they wouldn't question it. Not that they knew what really happened but he was sure they knew it wasn't good when he was missing for two whole days and landed in the hospital covered in partially dried blood.

Speaking of which, he was still somewhat gross but his face and neck had been wiped clean of blood and he'd already got a change of clothes at the hospital, his aunt must have wiped his face while he was out. That was both touching and very disturbing. It made him feel like he was three again…

"Kazuto, are you alright?" His aunt questioned quietly as she made her way over to his bed and sat down, she tried to pull the blankets down so she could see his face.

He immediately shifted so his face was buried in his pillow.

"Kirito, what happened?" He heard a second voice call from the door way, of course the voice was and always will be unmistakable to his ears, he'd recognize it from a mile away.

Oh no, just who all is here? If Asuna is here, does that mean everyone is?

But the biggest question was how the hell was he going to play the nightmare card without looking at them?

"I'm fine, I just had a bad dream." He started with his voice muffled by the pillow, "I just need a moment…" this was damaging to his pride in more ways than one.

"Sweetie, why don't you talk to us about what happened? We're all very worried." His aunt started as she stroked his hair.

Mothers can be the most embarrassing beings on the planet at times; his girlfriend is right over-

Almost like he had no control, a sudden noise erupted from his throat before he could even finish his train of thought.

His mother stopped stroking his hair as he went rigid with horror.

"Kazuto…were you just purring?" She questioned quietly.

"No." he answered a little too fast, and the room filled with silence.

"Kirito-"

"Can you both please just leave me alone for a little while? Please?" He interrupted quickly; he needed to figure his shit out alone before he did anything else weird. He was seriously losing it.

"O-ok…" he heard Asuna mumble as she slowly left the room, his mother sighed but remained quiet until Asuna was all the way down the stairs.

"Kazuto what aren't you telling us?" She questioned quietly as she waited for her son's response. She understood that he wanted space but he went missing and when they finally saw him again the first thing he did was faint. The doctors said it was just from exhaustion but that didn't stop her worry when he slept a whole day away. The fact that he had been covered in blood wasn't any bit more reassuring either.

She hated knowing that the boy she raised as her son had gone through something terrible and yet not knowing what it was or how to help him. She's only had to feel like this once before... That was the night Kazuto's parents died in the car accident and he had gone missing for a full month before being found.

Midori shook her head, that's in the past and she doesn't need to be thinking about it right now.

"Nothing, I'm fine." He affirmed still burying his face in that confounded pillow.

"Kirigaya Kazuto don't you dare try and lie to me! I raised you young man which means I know you are, and will you get your face out of that pillow and look at me while we talk?!" She pushed in irritation; she knew Kazuto was not one to lie unless it was about something huge. That piece of knowledge only served to freak her out more the minute he did.

"Nothing makes sense and I'm just scared ok?! Why can't you just give me a moment?!" He yelled back into his pillow, making no move to show his face to her. His words only served to confuse and irritate her more.

She huffed in annoyance before standing up and yanking the pillow out of his grip, "Look at me Kazuto." She stated in that calm voice of authority that only a mother could achieve.

When Kirito still didn't move, she started to speak again with her voice low in warning, "Kirigaya Kazuto-"

Kirito sat up causing her to cut off her previous sentence, but much to her frustration and worry he still wouldn't look her in the eye. She couldn't even see his eyes what with the room being somewhat dark and his hair hanging in his face.

She stared at him for a long moment completely confused, he has never acted like this before, not once in his life. "What do you mean by 'nothing makes sense'?" she questioned quietly.

"I-I don't know…"

"Kazuto, what happened that day you went missing?"

"I don't know." He repeated.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean I don't understand what happened, it doesn't make sense. I. Don't. Know."

He could feel his mother's stare linger on him for a long moment before finally she handed him back his pillow and turned to leave. "I see…" he heard her mumble quietly, as she silently made her way to his door. However she paused when she had just stepped out the doorway, taking a deep breath and seemingly relaxing her posture before turning back to him with a small smile.

Regardless of her giving him space for now Kazuto was fully aware that he would have to come up with a better more adequate answer for later as she would bring it back up. She was his mother, or as close to one as he could have ever hoped to have; there was no way she would drop something so concerning about her son so easily.

"Everybody is still here; we've all been waiting for you to wake up. When you're ready, why don't you come down and say hi? We've all been worried out of our minds." She spoke calmly and casually as if the little fight they just had never happened.

"Ok." He answered similarly.

"Ok." She repeated with a smile, "Kazuto, you know I love you very much…don't you?"

"Yeah I know, love you too." He mumbled, shifting uncomfortably, she must have had a heart attack while he was missing because they weren't a very lovey dovey family. They also weren't one to fight.

She nodded, closing the door behind her. She probably thought it was quiet but it wasn't. Not to Kirito. For him it was as loud as a shot gun…

Like the gun that shot him-

Maybe he shouldn't think about guns in any way or form for a while.

Not to mention his ears were still ringing from when she had raised her voice.

The moment he heard her feet hit the last step he was out of his bed and staring at his reflection in the mirror again.

He thanked his lucky stars that his eyes were a dark gray…while he may seem to have enhanced vision; everyone else didn't. Better yet, it seemed his eyes were only truly noticeably slit when he was adjusting to different lighting or overly emotional.

While his pupils were still sort of oval-ish in shape, it was barely noticeable unless someone knew what to look for.

Kazuto wracked his brains as he thought back to how a cat's pupils worked, before he realized he shouldn't have too much of a problem hiding it as long as no one randomly shined a bright light in his face and or he avoided any sudden changes in lighting around him.

Well that made for somewhat relieving news, now the more important question was still left unanswered: what the hell was going on with him?

"Kazuto? Aren't you going to come down dear?" His mother called up from the bottom of the stairs.

Kazuto flinched as his ears started ringing again, it seemed he was going to have to get used to that or jump every time he heard a single noise. A pin could drop and it would probably sound like a firework to him.

"Yeah I'm coming!" He half shouted back before making his way down the stairs.

Once he reached the bottom of the stairs he could feel his eyes dilate back to slits from the sudden brightness that was the living room and he quickly looked towards the wall as he waited for them to go back to normal.

'Damn…This might be harder than I originally thought.'

On the outside it looked like he was randomly staring at a picture on the wall, on the inside he was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"Kirito! Man you have no idea how much you scared the ever living crap out of me- us- ah whatever you get the point. We were worried." He heard Klein practically scream in his ear, oh wait no he's all the way across the room still… It sounded like he was screaming in his ear.

He had a feeling headaches were going to be a new common theme to his life from now on.

"Next time choose someplace closer by to hang out then." He responded making sure his voice sounded calm and even, though it still came out heavy with irritation as he turned to stare at him.

"The first thing you do when you come round is scold me, go figure."

This whole cat problem thing must have been taking more of a toll on Kazuto than he had originally thought, because normally that wouldn't really have bothered him. Heck, in another situation and time he might have even chuckled, but he wouldn't have been out on that road and he wouldn't be dealing with these weird problems if Klein had just chosen some place closer. Instead he felt something he'd been holding back this whole time snap at those words.

"Oh you're whining, you're fucking whining?! I almost got murdered trying to get back home! I should be dead right now! But for some ungodly miraculous reason I'm not, and your whining?! A man held a gun to my head, clearly not bothered with killing me, AND YOUR WHINING?!"

Well crap he didn't mean to say all that. It kind of just slipped out his mouth…at least he didn't say anything about actually being shot. That would have been hard to explain.

And now everyone in the room was staring at him in horror, their mouths hung open in shock. Did the police not tell them anything? Man the quality in police and doctors has seemed to drop lately, what do they just go and take a little quiz and call it a day? Where does all their education go?

"Kazuto-" his mother began her voice shaking.

"I'm hungry do we have anything to eat?" he quickly cut her off in attempt to change the topic.

Nope, not working everyone was still staring at him; wait are Suguha and Asuna crying? Oh wonderful, he made them cry.

'Can't I catch a break?' he thought as he looked up at the ceiling like some magical being might swoop in and save him.

Like maybe that stupid cat that he may or may not be hallucinating.

He'd take the stupid imaginary cat, hell; he'd hop on a freaking unicorn pooping rainbows if it got him out of the current situation.

"No? ok I'm going back to bed." He stated as he made to dash up the stairs.

He didn't get very far up before a hand on his shoulder stopped him from escaping to his room and locking himself in for as long as possible. Turning around he found the hand to belong to none other than Agil, which was in itself a surprising discovery seeing as how busy a man he always seems to be.

"For the past day we have been coming in and out of this house waiting for you to wake up and sick with worry, two days before that we nearly lost our minds when you just disappeared without a trace. You know they say after 24 hours the likelihood of a missing person's survival decreases greatly? I understand you've been through something horrible but that makes for all the better reason you should at least come sit with us for a little while. Ease or minds, ease yours, ok?" Agil spoke his voice calm and patient but it was easily noticeable, just as it seemed with all of them, that it's been a couple days since he slept well and that he was starting to become a little irritable.

It never occurred to Kazuto how he could worry them all that much, but if he thought about one of them suddenly disappearing for two days and then just popping back up covered in blood he realized he would be going out of his mind as well.

"Ok." Kazuto said quietly as he made his way back down the remaining steps again and though he did not feel up to spending time with anyone at the current moment he knew it was something that needed to be done.

He sat down next to Asuna before gently pulling her in a hug as she was still silently crying, something that was very out of character for her. After all she was, in his opinion at the very least, as strong as they came.

Luckily Suguha had already stopped crying, so that was one concern out of the way. Still he reached over and held her hand in his as a form of comfort, "You're alright?" he asked quietly looking her in the eye.

She gave him a quick little nod, he however didn't let go of her hand until she gave him small smile as well in reassurance.

Now that he was sure his sister was fine he could focus all his attention on his girlfriend instead, "Asuna" He started speaking softly as he ran his fingers through her hair, allowing her to bury her face in his shoulder, "I'm ok, I'm here. I won't ever do that to you again, I'm so sorry sweetie." He continued as he kissed the side of her head.

The fact that she let him in front of everyone was a testimony for how upset he had made her, and he was just going to lock himself in his room and wallow in self-pity. How selfish of him, when his girlfriend was sitting on the couch crying over him, something of which she didn't do unless she was truly at her limit in emotion.

"You scared the ever living crap out of me." She mumbled into his shoulder.

"I know, and I'm so very sorry."

"You owe me a date." She spoke again in between sniffles obviously trying to lighten the mood for them all.

He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his mouth, "I know." Was all he said in response.

"Well, welcome back idiot." Lizbeth called from her seat across the room, effectively ruining the moment but serving as a form of amusement all the same. Though Lizbeth herself seemed nonchalant about the whole affair it was obvious that she too had spent nights in worry over her friend (or not so secret crush).

"Liz, that's not very nice." Silica mumbled from her seat next to Lizbeth.

"I say idiot in the most affectionate and honest way." Was Liz's only response

"Yeah it's good to be back." Kazuto commented mostly to himself as he watched everyone seem to relax back to their casual selves.

"You're just going to ignore the fact that she called you an idiot?" Silica questioned almost in disbelief.

"Eh, she calls a lot of people idiots."

* * *

**A/N: Ok I was going to try and make this chapter longer but man this mushy stuff is killer to write…too many emotions…dying!..I see the light…**

**No wait that's just my lamp.**

**Bad joke, anyway please review! See ya later (hopefully not as late as this time was, college is killer)**


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